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Auburn in 'good shape' recruiting 2021 class, even during coronavirus-prompted dead period

But two moves that could wind up being just as important to the team’s future were the ones Malzahn made to replace departed defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson, who left for the same job at Florida State. One, the Tigers hired Al Pogue — a coach with knowledge of the program and plenty of local ties — as a defensive assistant. And two, they assigned the title of recruiting coordinator, once held by Woodson, to linebackers coach Travis Williams.

Williams couldn’t have (and wouldn’t have) asked for a stranger start to his time in that role. The quiet period (during which schools are allowed to host recruits on campus visits) that started March 1 was supposed to extend through April 14. An evaluation period (during which coaches are allowed to visit prospective student-athlete’s high schools and watch them at camps) was supposed to run from April 15-May 31.

Instead, schools are less than halfway through the recruiting dead period the NCAA instituted on March 13 that will run through at least May 31. Coaches are able to talk to recruits by phone, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, are not allowed to host prospective athletes on campus visits or travel to see them at their schools and homes.

“That has a few challenges with that,” Malzahn said on a Zoom conference with reporters last week. “One of our advantages at Auburn is getting guys on campus and getting that family feel and those relationships. So we're not able to do that, so we have to be creative with some different things.”

Williams has been at the forefront of that creativity. With Auburn unable to bring recruits to campus, Auburn has tried to bring campus to them with “T-Will’s Takeover,” a series of videos posted to the team’s Twitter account (which has nearly 375,000 followers) that feature Williams giving a virtual tour of facilities around campus.

Auburn has only three players committed to its 2021 recruiting class with a little more than eight months to go before the start of the early signing period. It had four, but four-star quarterback Aaron McLaughlin decommitted not long after Morris replaced the departed Kenny Dillingham (who also went to Florida State) as offensive coordinator. That class currently ranks 28th nationally, according to the 247Sports composite.

But that’s not unusual. The Tigers had only four commitments at this time last year (Kobe Hudson, Daniel Foster-Allen, Avery Jernigan and JJ Evans) and went on to sign 26 players in a class that ranked seventh nationally. The three they do have give them a strong foundation — four-star Eight Mile defensive tackle Lee Hunter (No. 41 nationally), four-star Hewitt-Trussville running back Armoni Goodwin (No. 87) and three-star Deerfield Beach, Florida, safety Phillip O’Brien Jr.

And Auburn appears to be a legitimate factor in the race to land a number of the nation’s top recruits. Some names to watch as the 2021 recruiting cycle (hopefully) heats back up again in the summer include:

Five-star OT Tommy Brockermeyer (No. 4) and four-star C James Brockermeyer (No. 204), Fort Worth, TX: They're Texas legacies (their dad was an All-American for the Longhorns in the 90s) but Auburn and Alabama have caught the eye of the highly sought-after package deal.

Four-star LB Barrett Carter (No. 54), Suwanee, GA: Has family ties to Auburn, which will face plenty of competition from Clemson and Georgia.

Four-star DE Jeremiah Williams (No. 116), Birmingham, AL: Has Auburn in top eight.

Four-star QB Kaidon Salter (No. 244), Cedar Hill, TX: Said Auburn is one of the four schools recruiting him the hardest.

Four-star OG Dylan Fairchild (No. 343), Cumming, GA: Auburn is considered to be among the favorites, along with a host of other SEC schools.

One thing all those players have in common is that they’re from either Alabama, Florida, Georgia or Texas — the three states Auburn recruits the most and one the program has had more success tapping into recently than it ever has before, respectively.

The Tigers have produced only 16 lettermen from the state of Texas. Nine of those 16 have played for Malzahn, who first arrived as the offensive coordinator, and three more 2020 signees — tight end Brandon Frazier and defensive backs Marco Domio and Chris Thompson — are set to join that list next season. Morris, who spent 16 seasons coaching high school football and Texas and got his college head coaching job at SMU in Dallas, could help that surge continue.

The addition of Pogue could make an impact, too. Not in Texas, but in Alabama, where Auburn has signed only seven recruits over the past two cycles combined after averaging eight per year over the first five seasons of Malzahn’s tenure. Pogue is from Mobile, played at Alabama State, coached high school football in the Montgomery area from 1998-2010, and worked high school relations for Auburn in 2013, so he has ties around the state.

Commits Hunter and Goodwin are the No. 3- and 4-ranked players in Alabama, and Auburn is among the favorites to land Nos. 1 and 2, McKinstry and Brooks. Maybe Pogue's addition will the Tigers repeat 2019, when Woodson used his Mississippi ties to sign three of the top 10 recruits in the state during his first full cycle on staff.

Because the rest of the rest of Auburn's staff is as stable as there in the SEC. Morris, Pogue and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. are in their first years, and running backs coach Cadillac Williams is in his second, but every other assistant has spent at least three seasons working for Malzahn, who is going into Year 8. Travis Williams is a first-time recruiting coordinator, but fifth-year assistant.

"Recruits want to be coached by the guys that recruited them, and that doesn’t happen a whole lot of times in this league," Malzahn said. "But it’s going to happen here at Auburn.”

That puts the Tigers in a solid position to weather an odd time for college football recruiting.

“Our coaches have done a good job,” Malzahn said. “We’ve really worked hard on the long-term relationships, so our guys are in good shape.”

Josh Vitale is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can follow him on Twitter at @JoshVitale. To reach him by email, click here.